I've moved!!

New name, new location, new blog altogether:


Chalk on the Walls


Join me on a journey of motherhood, wife-hood, decorating, baking and more!

Mary "Lucy" Stansberry (with Mariah Lucy)
March 27, 1919-April 28, 2010

This beautiful woman went to be with Jesus today. I can't even describe how much she will be missed. I have so many incredible memories of her. We've known this day was coming for several months and she has fought such a hard fight. But, I still wasn't prepared to lose such an amazing lady. I am having a hard time grasping that I will never see her again. She was such an integral part of my whole life. I am so thankful she was able to go home in peace. I will forever miss my sweet Grandma! I love Lucy!!!

Here is a re-post from when we first found out:



Tonight I have thoughts and prayers for this beautiful Christian lady, I am so lucky to call "Grandma." What a wonderful Christian example my Grandma Lucy has always been! She is one of those rare jewels you find that has all of the qualities you can only hope got passed down! She is selfless, thoughtful, devoted, creative, witty, funny, silly, serious, hard-working, dependable, supportive, persistent, driven, generous, caring, loving, genuine, and so much more!!! But one of the things that sticks out, is her silent, yet sometimes found-out acts of giving to others. She is one of those people you know is a Christian because of her actions! LOVE that! I hope I can be more like her! Wow! What a lady!!


This beautiful 90 year old woman, who worked every day as the curator of the Old Town Museum in Elk City, OK, up until a month ago, loves Christmas more than anyone I know! She has a HUGE, museum-worthy collection of snowmen, gives every family member a Christmas stocking and gifts, decorates her house inside and out, and has always made amazing food and candies! We were able to celebrate with her in Elk City over the weekend and I cherished her expressions of contentment and joy, as she watched each of us open our stockings and gifts. I have never known anyone more happy than her to give and become so over-joyed by the recipients joy!

As a child I "worked" at the museum with her, was her "bed feller", cooked with her, watched her cook, she read to me, bought me special treats (Keebler chocolate dipped wafer cookies and chocolate dipped Oreos!!), drove me around town, wrote me letters, let me put lipstick and rouge on her (when I was really little), she "itched my back", went to church with her and really just acted as her shadow! She is definitely one of my very favorite people!!! She has taught me so much!

Today my prayers are for her as she suffers with terminal cancer. I pray and wish her only the peace and comfort that God can provide! Oh how I wish she could live on for fifty more years! I still have so much to learn from her! My little Mariah is a lucky little girl to share the name, Lucy, with her! I'm glad Grandma Lucy has been able to know her and share that sweet name!

Tot Trot...Mark your calendars!!

5K Run and 1 Mile Walk

Friday, May 7th

6-9pm

Mitch Park

All proceeds benefit Christian Service's adoption, foster care and
maternity home ministries.

For more information, visit: http://www.christian-adoption.org/tottrot

This is a fun way for your whole family to help out many precious babies, women and families!!!

Also, be sure to mark your calendar for some wonderful shopping that benefits the Tot Trot! Tuesday, March 23rd from 7:30-9:00 shop at Adora!! It's the perfect opportunity to get started on your Mother's Day shopping!

The past month

Josh and I were able to get out of town by ourselves a few weekends ago! Mariah stayed for the first time at Poppy and YaYa's house overnight! Josh and I went to Frisco to shop, EAT and relax! We had a great time and will have to go again soon!!


Since I'm basically just updating every few weeks or once a month or something, here are pics from Mariah's baby shower, her 18 month birthday and several of her new tricks!

On Valentine's Day, Mariah was given a WONDERFUL baby shower!! We had so much fun!!! Mariah had a blast playing with her grandmothers, playing with the other kiddos there and stealing chocolate off of the plates of several of the women:)

Once again, a HUGE thanks to my friend and co-teacher, Chiara, for volunteering to take professional pics at Mariah's shower!! I can't tell you how much more fun it is when you don't have to worry about remembering to take pictures! It was so nice to get pictures of people that I never even got to see:) Thank you, Chiara!!

We are so overwhelmed by the support we have gotten from our church family, family and friends! Their generosity and thoughtfulness has just been over the top! I spent the entire shower opening presents for Mariah. Even almost a month later, she is still getting gifts! We appreciate everyone for loving Mariah and automatically accepting her as "ours" before it was even official!!
The "Lucy" doll from sweet Haley! On a shopping trip to Pottery Barn Kids with my friends, I spotted this sweet doll named Lucy and it was a brown baby! I was showing the girls and crying because it was so sweet! Perfect for my Mariah Lucy! I had planned to get it for Mariah later on, but Haley surprised me with it at the shower! She also surprised me with this adorable pillow that she made for Mariah's crib! It matches perfectly!!!!

Loving on her doll from Chiara!
The beautiful table filled with yummy cookies and other goodies!!

Helping Mommy open presents!
A few of the wonderful handmade gifts!! Hooded "Mariah" towel by Sada and beautiful quilt with yummy fabrics by Jane!


Playing with YaYa!
Reading with Nan Nan!

Cousins!




Mariah and Mariah:)

All three cousins! I love these sweet girls!!
Aunt Mandy!
DADDY!! Thankful he came to help load gifts!!
Me and my momma!!





The precious hostesses (minus two)! What a fabulous job they did with the shower!! They are each so sweet!!
Mariah's new crib from YaYa and Poppy, new GIRLY bedding I got on clearance (had to make sure I had something with red) and room rearrangement!
Looks like we're ready for baby #2!!!! We will be adding a new foster baby to our family sometime this spring/summer! Just as soon as the funding is in for the foster program at Christian Services of Oklahoma! We are so excited and can't wait to see what blessing God sends our way!! The race and gender will be a surprise! So fun to see what God has in His plans!! We have been praying hard, specifically that God prepares each of our hearts to love this baby like our own and yet be prepared for it to return back home eventually, if that is the plan. We look forward to giving another precious baby a temporary home.

18 months!!! February 22nd, Mariah turned 1 1/2! I must say, 18 months is my very favorite so far! Mariah has been so much fun! She sings actual songs, she has "conversations" with me, and she really has such a fun sense of humor! She has also really started hugging and kissing much more, which I just love!! It really has been a blast so far! It's fun to watch her do "big girl" stuff and actually really enjoy it! I took her for her 18 month checkup today and she is doing great! He said she is just tall and skinny!! She is 20lbs exactly and is 31 1/2 inches tall!







Getting ready to kiss Mommy:)(
Yesterday I broke out the camera and had to take some pics and video of my funny girl! She had me laughing with several of her new tricks! (dancing above)
She loves to climb and stand in chairs (even though the standing up is not allowed:))

Her ballet pose!
Her cartwheel!
Her other version of her "cartwheel!" She does one of these two poses whenever I say "cartwheel!" Too funny!!!

Gotcha Day!

I'm finally blogging about the day we officially became a family!! We've been a family since September 17, 2008. But, we legally became family forever on December 4, 2009! This was basically our family's version of "labor and delivery." We were so blessed to have our families there to witness this very special day!!

A HUGE, GIGANTIC, THANK YOU to Chiara Davidson, of Chiara Davidson Photography!! She volunteered to take all of our adoption day and party day photos! Thank you for your amazing work and gift of time!!!










Our GREAT social workers!!






The moment that reality set-in....waiting for the elevator immediately after court.




Mariah LOVED her sucker from Judge Shaw!!


Our wonderful attorney!

December 5, 2009...GOTCHA PARTY!!!




















**Just realized that several of the fun Gotcha Day Party pics that I thought I posted didn't post....bummer!